Workers at the Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical site are facing the
threat of closure unless they sign a no-strike deal

Workers at the Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical site are facing a crunch point on Monday, with the threat of closure hanging over the plant unless they sign a no-strike deal.

Jim Ratcliffe, chief executive and founder of Ineos, the chemical group running Scotland’s biggest industrial complex near Edinburgh, has raised the stakes by telling workers there is little point in signing without assurances there will be no more strike action for the rest of the year.

But Ineos said it had been encouraged by an early response with 250 out of a total work force of 1,300 accepting the return to work conditions and supporting its “survival plan”. Calum MacLean, chairman of Ineos Grangemouth, accused Unite, the union, of “intimidatory tactics” by picketing outside the homes of employees.

Fears that he may start to run down the loss-making petrochemical side of the business as early as this week have produced a counter threat of legal action from Unite, the union, and attempts by a worried Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, to act as peacebroker.

Around 400 employees, some with family members including children, attended a rally at the plant yesterday in heavy rain and heard from speakers from Unite and other bodies such as the Scottish Trades Union Congress.

The no-strike demand is linked to workers giving their support to a £300m investment programme for a new petrochemicals terminal to handle cheap imports to replace more expensive North Sea oil by-products. Ineos wants them to accept a new pension scheme and other cost-cutting measures in return for a £15,000 incentive payment.

Mr Ratcliffe has made it clear he is running out of patience and describes his battle with the union as “guerrilla warfare”.

Yesterday he said: “This is not a bluff. The clock is ticking. Grangemouth could have a future but that is absolutely in the hands of the workers. Raw gas is declining at a rapid rate and we cannot run the plant flat out.

“The situation is very serious but I want to emphasise that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Grangemouth can have a potentially exciting future.”

Mr Ratcliffe has warned that the closure of the petrochemical unit could be followed by a shutdown of the refinery, which provides 80pc of Scotland’s fuel, operated in partnership with Petro-China.

Mr Salmond is anxious to avoid a confrontation and any plant closure in the run up to the vote on Scotland’s independence.

He has attacked both sides for issuing unhelpful press releases and said Grangemouth has a “great future.”

Relations between Ineos and Unite reached rock bottom last week when the union called off a two-day strike over the treatment of a senior union official at the plant but the company decided against re-opening the plant on safety grounds. The company said the closure had cost it £20m on top of monthly losses of £10m.

Ineos provided more details behind the decision over the weekend after Pat Rafferty, Unite’s regional officer, accused the company of “playing Russian roulette” with the Scottish economy.

The company said that lessons learned after an earlier strike in 2008, when there were risks of two explosions after the plant re-opened had influenced the decision.

An independently verified assessment of the risks linked to closure and re-opening in last week’s planned stoppage “forced” the company to maintain the shutdown.